When is Little Boy Blue on TV?

How many episodes are there?

Rhys was senselessly murdered on his way home from a football training session.

The 11-year-old was walking through a pub carpark in Norris Green at 7:30pm when a teenager on a bike fired three shots from a handgun in a gang turf war.

Rhys - who was simply an innocent bystander - was shot in the back, and died after paramedics battled for an hour and a half to save him.

Although the name of his murderer - 16-year-old Sean Mercer - was widely known in the area, police faced a battle to get the evidence required for legal charges, as those who knew him helped to cover his tracks.

Who plays Rhys' mum ?

Rhys’ mum, Melanie Jones, is to be portrayed by Irish actress Sinead Keenan - who has previously starred in BBC Three’s Being Human.

She has also appeared in Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Silent Witness and Doctor Who.

She said: “We went to Melanie and Steve’s house and spent a couple of hours with them. They are lovely people caught up in something horrific. This is about somebody’s life. About a family. So it is more than an acting job.”

I’d never been to Liverpool before filming this. It reminds me of Dublin, of home.

“I don’t know whether it’s the Irishness of Liverpool but there is very much that sense of, ‘You stick together’.”

A scene from Little Boy Blue paying tribute to footie fan Rhys

Who plays Rhys’ dad ?

Brian F. O’Byrne portrays Rhys’ dad Steve in the drama - he is a Tony Award winning Irish actor best known for his work in the US.

He appeared in Million Dollar baby, as well as a long list of hit TV series including Saints Strangers, The Magicians and Mercy Street.

“I was very fortunate to meet them. I wanted them to feel secure and to know we were approaching this work with respect. To ease their worries in some ways.

"It was important for them to understand we were not going to sensationalise anything and that we all wanted to do justice to their story.

“Certainly there’s a way of looking at grief in this story in a way we’re not aware of in some ways. That people grieve in different ways and it’s an individual journey you go on. And this has an effect, just in the process of grieving, on relationships. That’s something I hadn’t thought about a lot.”

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Where was Little Boy Blue filmed?

Rhys' funeral was filmed at the Anglican Cathedral, and the minute's applause was filmed during the half time break of a match at Goodison Park.

The court case was filmed at Liverpool Crown Court, inside the actual courtroom where the trial took place.

Rhys' mother Melanie at young Rhys' coffin at his funeral in 2007 (Image: Liverpool Echo)

However, producers took the decision not to film in the actual car park where Rhys was shot in Norris Green.

Kwadjo Dajan, one of the shows producers said: "When you're filming a project like this you have to go about your business in a sensitive and carefully thought out way.

"There would have been absolutely no value in recreating this sequence on the doorstep of where it happened. There was no way of knowing what kind of impact this would have had on Rhys' family, neighbours and friends so we made a conscious decision to film those scenes outside of the city."

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Little Boy Blue tells story of Rhys Jones murder

What happens in episode one?

The first episode focused on the immediate hours after Rhys’ shocking murder.

A synopsis released by ITV describes how Det Supt. Dave Kelly - played by Stephen Graham - is called to the scene of the crime where he receives news of Rhys death and put in charge of the investigation.

In the hours after Rhys death, the gang members involved in the cover up of the murder are already covering their tracks.

Rhys in his beloved Everton top (Image: PA)

Anonymous calls flood in to police naming Mercer as the killer, but Det Supt. Kelly soon realises it is not enough to bring about charges.

The first episode also recreated the moment that, just days after his murder, Rhys’ parents Melanie and Steve attend an Everton match to make an appeal to help catch their son’s killer.

An emotional minute’s applause which was held on the day was also recreated.

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Did his family agree to the drama being made?

Rhys’ parents - Mel and Steve - have been involved in the production from the off.

The pair issued an emotional statement about why they chose to get involved in creating the drama - revealing they wanted to show Rhys’killer that their own sentence would “never end.”

They said: “Our decision to get involved with Little Boy Blue stemmed principally from a desire to honour our son, Rhys, who we lost ten years ago.

“It is very important to us, and our other son, Owen, to keep his memory alive and for people to understand how important he was to us.

“But, beyond this, we saw this an opportunity to let the public see what happens to a family like ours in a situation like this. We wanted to show how the pressure we were placed under, the huge weight of grief thrust upon us, the endless waiting, not knowing if we would get justice for Rhys, can tear a family apart.”